StemCell Therapy

And so begins a new year. It rolls by on a fairly annual basis, but each time, I feel quite unprepared to make the switch. Awkwardly, the other day I wrote 2016 on something; I guess if Im going to be behind the times, I might as well go for it.

Im thinking, though, that 2020 has a nice enough ring that Ill get the hang of it quicker. Well see what happens.

Chinese culture attributes a certain animal to each calendar year, rotating through a set of 12 options ranging from rabbits to tigers. 2020 would be the Year of the Rat, but I had enough experience with rats in Kenya and Im not really into them.

Since vegetables are more down my alley, Ive decided to make an executive decision and deem 2020 the Year of the Carrot!

It makes perfect sense to me 20/20 means you have pretty good vision, and what vegetable is classically associated with good vision? Carrots, of course.

My logic starts to break down immediately when I explain that much of that belief is based on urban myth. The well-perpetuated notion that carrots can help you see in the dark, and drastically improve your eyesight in general, is actually due to World War II propaganda. In order to disguise new radar technology, the British army praised carrots as their secret weapon in obtaining night vision.

I guess their ploy worked because weve been believing it ever since.

To be fair, carrots definitely arent bad for your eyes. They are such great sources of vitamin As precursor, beta carotene that, yes, it is named after them. Vitamin A can at least help maintain good vision, and severe deficiency can contribute to loss of eyesight.

But carrots arent the winning sources of vitamin A: liver products can have up to over ten times the amount of carrots. Sweet potatoes, winter squash, and even hearty greens can all be denser vegetable sources than carrots.

On a similar note, although we typically refer to 20/20 as perfect vision, it isnt. It denotes normal visual acuity, but 20/15 or even 20/10 would be much better, as it means you can see with clarity things 20 feet away that 20/20 people can only see closer at 10 feet away.

All that said, I still choose carrots because I love them so much. Besides, I dont plan on advocating a Year of Liver any time soon.

And I still think vision is good to consider at the beginning of this new year. In the coming months, what will you be looking for? Are your eyes open to daily blessings? Are you really seeing the people around you?

So go ahead and make black-eyed peas or cornbread for New Years if you want; go ahead and make New Years resolutions if you want. But just make sure you make carrots, too.

Amanda Miller writes a column about local foods for The Hutchinson News. She teaches classes at Apron Strings and makes cheese on her familys dairy farm near Pleasantview. Reach her at hyperpeanutbutter@gmail.com

See the article here:
2020 vision for all of us - The Hutchinson News

This entry was posted on January 3, 2020 at 9:47 pm and is filed under Eye Sight & Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |